Overwatch Training: Exposing a Critical Training Gap During an Ammonia Release Exercise
Overwatch Training delivers emergency response exercises for teams across Ireland and the UK. During a live ammonia release exercise, Mark Hyland and his team needed to test whether responders would react appropriately to gas detector alarms inside a GPS-based hazard zone — without putting anyone in actual danger. What they discovered changed how they think about gas detection training.
The Organization
Overwatch Training (overwatch.ie) designs and delivers emergency response exercises for industrial, governmental, and public safety teams. Based in Ireland, they specialize in realistic scenario-driven training that exposes real gaps in responder behavior.
The Challenge
During an ammonia release exercise, instructors needed to test whether responders would properly react to gas detector alarms in a GPS-based hazard zone — without putting anyone in actual danger. Traditional training methods could not replicate the spatial element of walking into a plume while a detector screamed in alarm.
The Solution
Overwatch used SYGNAL's GPS-based hazard zone feature to create a realistic ammonia plume that triggered alarms on responders' devices as they physically entered the contaminated area during the live exercise. The training environment behaved exactly like a real release — detector readings climbed as responders closed with the hazard, and alarms activated at the correct thresholds.
The Result
Students kept advancing despite their detectors being in full alarm. They had never experienced that situation before and did not know how to respond. A critical training gap was exposed safely, with no real hazard, and Overwatch now uses the insight to prepare responders for real-world decisions they would otherwise face unprepared.
In Their Words
"That moment when students kept walking into the hazard zone despite being in alarm — that's exactly why this training matters. SYGNAL showed us what we needed to fix." — Mark Hyland, Owner, Overwatch Training